Yaounde, Cameroon | AFP | The club is secret. You have to know someone who will guide you to the address — off a busy street in Cameroon’s capital, down a dingy alley to a door with the unwelcoming message in chalk: “No entry.” Inside is a rectangular room, dark and …
Read More »Incumbent Masisi wins hotly contested Botswana vote
Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | Incumbent president Mokgweetsi Masisi on Friday won a five-year term in Botswana’s elections which saw his ruling party secure more than 51 percent of parliamentary votes, the chief justice said. “Dr. Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi is elected President of the Republic of Botswana,” …
Read More »Uganda, African military chiefs discuss Great Lakes security issues
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Senior military officers from five African Great Lakes countries met on Thursday to discuss violence which plagues part of their region, sources said. A military official said senior officers from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda gathered in the eastern town …
Read More »Russian soft power on display at Africa summit
Sochi, Russia | AFP | Aboubakary Guiro, a financial expert from Ivory Coast, is full of hope after attending the first ever Russia-Africa summit this week in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. “We forget about Russians when we talk business,” said Guiro, the co-partner of a financial advisory …
Read More »Sister Gladyce Kachope one of best teachers in Africa, wins $10,000 prize
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s Sister Gladyce Kachope of Immaculate Heart Girls Rukungiri, is one of three winners of the first Continental Teacher Prize. Kachope, Eric Ademba of Kenya and Augusta Lartey-Young from Ghana each win a prize of $10,000 for secondary school teachers. The African Union (AU) on …
Read More »Peter Ndegwa is new Safaricom CEO
Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | The Safaricom PLC Board of Directors has appointed Peter Ndegwa as the company’s Chief Executive Officer effective April 1, 2020. He joins Safaricom from Diageo PLC where he is the Managing Director of Diageo Continental Europe. “Ndegwa brings a wealth of experience in General …
Read More »From hotbed of crime to joggers’ paradise: Nairobi forest thrives
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | “We would collect dead, dumped bodies. Some were decomposing… others were fresh,” said John Chege of his early days policing Nairobi’s Karura Forest, back when thieves and murderers outnumbered joggers and dog walkers in the woods. Karura then was the stuff of urban legend, a fearsome …
Read More »Botswana awaits results in cliffhanger election
Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | Botswana voted Wednesday in a cliffhanger election set to test the decades-long dominance of the ruling party and challenge the country’s image of stability. The southern African nation’s 2,200 polling stations started closing at 1700 GMT as many were still waiting in queues to cast their …
Read More »NGOs file suit against Total over Uganda oil project
Nanterre, France | AFP | Six NGOs said Wednesday that they had filed a lawsuit against the French energy giant Total over an oil field project in Uganda, accusing it of failing to avert “disastrous impacts” for local residents and biodiversity. The groups hope the court in Nanterre, outside …
Read More »US intervenes in Egypt-Ethiopia Nile dam dispute
Egypt says accepts US invite to meet on Nile dam dispute Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt has accepted a US invitation for a meeting with Sudan and Ethiopia over a protracted Nile dam dispute, the foreign ministry said. The meeting, to be held in Washington, would bring together foreign …
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